


Eyelingual

by Lady_Nightshade



Series: Just Another Day in the Tower [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Darcy is good at languages, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Language, Mature for a few curse words, So is Bruce, Soulmates aren't really mentioned but it's a reference from the last story Always, Tony doesn't like to be left out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 02:42:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2605643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Nightshade/pseuds/Lady_Nightshade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The occupants of Avengers Tower spoke many languages.  But they usually spoke English since it was a common language for most anyone in the building at any given time.  But there’s another language that’s spoken on a daily basis by the tower’s resident spysassins, Clint and Natasha (and sometimes Bucky).  It’s more or less their own secret language of silent glances, facial expressions, and eyebrow ticks.  Darcy calls it ‘Eyebrow’ since it mainly involves eyebrow movement.  But the spies aren’t the only ones who are ‘eyelingual.’ </p><p>Darcy surprises Clint and Natasha with her eyelingual capabilities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyelingual

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me for some reason that I now cannot remember. But it made me smile since I like to think (as I’ve noticed a lot of the fandom does) that Clint and Natasha have a silent language from years of working together. It’s one that not many other people understand (Bucky gets it because of his history) but since Darcy seems to be the most perceptive character in the universe (like seriously- the number of fics where she’s mom is both cute and great) I decided that she speaks Eyebrow too. No one did a beta for me, so there’s probably some mistakes. Feel free to let me know.

There are many languages spoken in Avengers Tower. Even back when it was still Stark Tower there were many languages being spoken.  Stark Industries does international business- so it’s reasonable to assume that there are at least 5 languages being spoken in the building at any given time.

If we’re just counting among the Avengers themselves, well, the average person doesn’t have enough fingers and toes to count on (and that’s not even including Thor’s use of the all-tongue).  They usually stick to English though.  It’s the first language of most people who work in the building, and the common one between them all. 

This doesn’t mean however, that it’s the only one regularly spoken.  Most people don’t realize that there’s a silent language regularly being used at any given time.  Darcy understands this language.  She may have the gift of gab (as Steve describes it- bless him and his cute little phrases), but she also understands the finer points of body language.  It tells her useful things.  Things like when to stop talking before she gets herself shot (which yes, is a total possibility living with these people- _they_ wouldn't shoot her, but that doesn't mean that a bad guy wouldn't while she was busy distracting them).

Being in this line of work it’s not an uncommon occurrence for someone to be pointing some sort of loud noise making weapon at her. At first it was a bit nerve wracking. Belligerent Norse gods falling from the sky she could handle.  Guns, laser beams, and magic wands (yes, that was a thing too) are a different beast (and then of course there are also the actual beasts that people point at them). But since she wasn’t an Avenger, she usually got off without being aimed at.  And while any normal person would consider that a win, sometimes she gets offended when the bad guys don’t include her.  She knows it’s silly, but hey- she may not have superpowers but that doesn’t mean that she can’t be a threat too, _thank you very much_!  At least, she _used_ to get offended until Natasha told her to view it as her opponent’s weakness for assuming she was defenseless.  She loved how Natasha’s devious mind worked (and had told her so on several occasions). Wait for them to think you’re just an innocent mewling quim and then… _STRIKE!_   Or in Darcy’s case, _TASE_!

When Darcy started working for Jane she’d already been pretty good at reading body language, which was probably why she’d picked up Jane’s own unique brand of language so quickly.  A language Darcy liked to call ‘Jane-ish.’ Jane was a great woman- Darcy loved her to pieces and was beyond loyal to her (so much so that she’d allowed the woman to drag her to the middle of who knows where with a S.H.I.E.L.D. escort during the whole battle of New York- thanks to a certain iPod nabbing agent by the name of Son of Coul.  Darcy was still a bit steamed over that- the people in the lab next to theirs had tried to flirt with them by juggling fish.  _FISH_!  What the fuck was _that_ about Son of Coul? _What the fuck_?). But it had come to Darcy’s attention very early on that the woman didn’t always speak English… or make sense. Sure, Jane was brilliant and Darcy would tase anyone who questioned that- she’d hated most of the scientific community for laughing at her friend (and had practically crowed after Thor’s arrival and Jane was proven right).  That being said, Jane didn’t always use her words.  Sometimes it was gestures, made up words, grunts, sighs, and of course, Darcy’s favorite, the lost kitty eyes.  You know those eyes that Puss gives from the Shrek franchise? Yeah.  _Those_.  Jane could do _those_. Only like 10 times worse.

Darcy had gotten pretty adept at Jane-ish pretty fast. Maybe that’s why when she moved into the Tower she’d had little problem communicating with the other inhabitants. No, they didn’t speak Jane-ish (or even a pidgin variation of it), but they _did_ speak Eyebrow. 

The spysassins did, to be precise.  

Natasha and Clint could spend hours in conversation with each other- telling jokes, throwing insults, asking and answering questions. All with a subtle facial expression- the simple quirk of a brow or the tilt of their head. Most of the others in the tower had given up trying to speak it with them (Bucky understood but for a while he hadn't spoken to anyone other than Steve and Sam- then later Natasha). Tony, brilliant as he was, had all but broken his face trying to communicate with them that way.  Pepper had told Darcy that Tony’s eyebrows had been sore for a full week.  Seriously, she didn’t even know you could _do_ that!

The only other person who seemed to be good at understanding them was Bruce.  But then, Bruce understood the language of Calm better than most and since many people achieve calm through silence, Darcy figured that the languages of Calm, Silence, and Eyebrow weren’t too far apart from each other and might even share some of the same structure.  So when she moved in it wasn’t a surprise that she started to pick things up. She started out slow though. She spent several months just watching. When she felt she had the basics down, she started thinking about how to join in.  She knew that what Clint and Nat had was special, and she didn’t want to intrude. So instead of trying to join conversations uninvited, she’d simply start her own when she caught one of them alone. 

The first one she tried it on was Clint. She’d actually intended to test it out on Bruce but he seemed to _understand_ more than actually speak Eyebrow.  Both of the spies had been out on separate missions for a while with no ETA on their returns so she’d put her plan on the back burner and had gone about her life.  One night after a particularly long evening in the labs with Jane (“ _Science waits for no woman, Darcy_!” Jane had shouted that at her when Darcy had tried to get the woman to leave. Darcy ended up having to have Thor physically remove Jane from the lab and distract her with Norse god of Thunder abs for the evening.  Never failed), Darcy was making some comfort food in the communal kitchen.  Steve was out with Bucky and Sam doing things at the Capitol, Tony and Pepper were in L.A., and Bruce had gone to bed hours ago so she was cooking for one. 

Just as she was opening a beer she turned to see Clint sitting at the breakfast bar watching her.  He looked tired.  She doubted he’d rested much since ending his mission.  But Darcy knew he wouldn’t have let her see him if he didn’t want the company.  So, staring at him for a moment, she figured now was as good a time as any to try out her Eyebrow fluency.  Tilting her head to the side she quirked her eyebrow at him. 

As tired as Clint looked, he actually perked up a bit at her actions.  She could see the slight look of amused surprise on his face before he responded to her in turn with a few quirks of his own followed by a tilt of his chin. Thinking she’d understood, Darcy shrugged and walked over to the cabinet to pull out a glass.  The soft clink of the glass on the counter was the only sound between them as she turned back and dug through the fridge before emerging with a carton of milk and some chocolate syrup.  She’d either just discovered Clint’s comfort food or had completely misunderstood him.  Beer and chocolate milk sounded nothing alike when you spoke them aloud, but in Eyebrow, they were pretty similar.  Pouring him a glass of milk she reached for a spoon and handed it to him before going back to put the milk in the fridge.  Clint smiled at her fondly as he reached for the syrup she’d left out for him. Stirring the now chocolate milk, he watched her- a look of pleased pride in his eyes.  Darcy might be the newbie at the tower, but he’d watched her back in Puente Antiguo and had become quite fond of her. Darcy might not be intelligent the way Foster was, but he knew she _was_ intelligent.  It pleased him to see it.  He could tell she was still learning, but knew she’d pick it up quickly now that he was helping her practice. 

Darcy ended up cooking for two that night. She learned Clint liked blueberries in his pancakes and his bacon almost burned.  They mused, joked, learned, shared, and did so all in almost complete silence (broken only by their laughter). 

The second time Darcy practiced Eyebrow was the next afternoon.  Natasha had come back from her mission debrief and was sitting with Clint on one of the couches in the common area.  When Darcy walked in she smiled at them but didn’t want to intrude.  She figured Natasha might want some time to decompress and too many people around might make that hard for her.  So instead she walked into the kitchen.  What she hadn’t counted on was what Clint did next.

A brief whistle from him had her turning towards the two.  Darcy quirked her brow at him expectantly.  Clint made a few motions with his brows at her and even threw in a few facial expressions. Darcy could tell they were exaggerated from what he’d normally use with Natasha, and realized it must be because he knew she was still learning.  It made her feel good to be included in their conversation.  She hadn’t wanted to pry, but he’d just included her anyway.

Natasha glanced at him, squinting her eyes at him ever so slightly for a beat. 

Clint actually gave her a full on grin and nodded once before using his head to motion at Darcy before giving the burnet his attention again. 

Darcy responded before turning to dig into the fridge. If she’d been watching, she would have caught Natasha’s pleased smile slowly spread across the spy’s face. Pulling out three cans of root beer, Darcy began rummaging through the freezer for vanilla ice cream. That evening the three of them conversed silently over root beer floats, Cheez-Its, and pizza. Natasha and Clint went slowly and with a bit more exaggeration than usual for Darcy’s sake.  To their delight she was a fast learner and within another few weeks she could keep up with them at their usual pace.

Several months passed without the other Avengers learning of Darcy’s new skill.  It’s not like they were purposely keeping it from the others- it’s just that no one except for Bruce (who was the only one who understood them and thus the only one who paid attention to them when they started ‘chatting’) and Bucky (who occasionally now joined in) noticed.  A few had their suspicions, but for the most part, no one paid enough attention. Then one day while they were all sitting around the kitchen eating, talking, and just enjoying each other’s company, Clint quirked a brow at Natasha who rolled her eyes at him in mock exasperation.  Not exactly out of the ordinary for these two. This time however, was different- Darcy started to laugh.  _Hard_.  So hard she doubled over and almost fell down.  After a minute she gave up on standing all together and just sat down where she was- a small convulsing pile of leggings, sweater, and curls.  Finally wiping the tears from her eyes Darcy made the mistake of looking up.

Clint’s eyes caught hers and with another few twitches of his brow she was in stiches again.  Clint was grinning from ear to ear.  It always pleased him when someone laughed at his jokes, and Darcy’s laughter was always uplifting.

After that, people started to pay closer attention to Darcy’s interactions with the spies. 

*

A few weeks later Darcy was in the labs with Jane when Tony came striding in.  Instead of his usual band t-shirt and torn jeans, he was dressed up today. He must have been in meetings all morning and only just gotten back in- he was still wearing his sunglasses.

“Hey Lewis, you got a sec?”

Darcy’s fingers stilled from their filing. “Sure Corey Hart, what’s up?” she asked as she set down the stack of folders she’d been alphabetizing ( _Jane_ -abetizing, actually).

“Have you eaten? Let’s go somewhere. Nice.  I’ll drive.  I’ll _pay_.  Hell, I’ll buy the restaurant if you like it.”

Darcy stared at him.  What had gotten into him?  “Uh, Jarvis?  Are Tony’s vitals… normal?”

Tony took off his glasses.  “Not hungry, huh?  Ok, change of tactics.  You like books? Let’s go buy some books. Or you know what, forget the books. I’ll buy you a franchise. Or a _publishing house_!”

Jarvis let out a sigh.  “Sir’s functions are all normal.  As normal as they ever are, at least.”

Tony raised a finger in the air. “Shush you.” He wasn’t annoyed, but he was definitely focused.  Not even Jarvis’s sass was going to deter him.

Darcy took a minute to study Tony. He looked like he wanted something. _Ah_ , now the bribing made sense. “What do you want, Tony?”

“Your secret.”  

“My secret… _Garden_? _Chocolate stash_? _What_?”

“What? _No_. I want you to tell me how you- wait, you have a _garden_? What kind of plants are you growing in my tower, young lady?  Not that I care- I’m a _very_ open-minded individual and employer.  But if it’s anything fun, I expect you to share like you’re going to do with your chocolate stash.”

Darcy rolled her eyes.  “The Secret Garden is a _book_ , Tony.  I don’t have any plants in the building of _any_ kind- they wouldn’t survive me.  Ask Jarvis, I killed the houseplant Steve got me within a week.  And who says I have a secret chocolate stash? I certainly didn’t.” Darcy would defend her stash if need be.  Owner of the building she lived in or no, she’d tase him if she had to.

“Rogers got you a house plant?”

Darcy sighed and shifted her weight. “It was a welcome gift.”

“And you killed it in a _week_?” Tony wasn’t so great with living things that depended on him either- that’s why he had bots instead of dogs.  But a week was short even by his standards.

Darcy shrugged.  Her job was to feed and water Jane, not a houseplant. “Jane’s was dead by day three.”

Tony felt he was beginning to understand more fully why Jane kept Darcy around- it was a life or death situation.   “ _Seriously_?” How do you kill a plant so fast?  Seriously.  Tony was actually rather curious now.

“Hey, Jane’s not good with plants but that’s because she’s all about that science-”

Suddenly music played over the speakers in the ceiling that Jarvis used to speak through.  The tail end of a sentence “no treble” played before cutting off again. Darcy smiled.  She liked it when Jarvis backed her up or tried to finish her sentences for her with music.  It’s something the AI had started doing over the past few weeks.  Without skipping a beat she continued, despite Tony’s startled ‘ _dafuq_?!’ expression at the ceiling.  “You wouldn’t expect the Dog Whisperer to be good with horses, would you? Jane’s the black hole whisperer.”

Jane looked up from the pile of empty pop tart boxes and papers she’d more or less nested in.  She was in the process of ripping a strip of duct taped from the roll before using it to secure a machine to the lab table for… Darcy didn’t actually know. “ _One time_!  It was _one_ _time_!”

Darcy balled her fists on her hips. “And you are _never_ going to live it down!  _EVER_!”

Jane looked up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes. You open up a teeny tiny black hole accidentally just one time and they never let you forget it. She gave up and popped back down- duct tape ripping noises signaling she’d gone back to her taping.  Darcy wondered if she should start bolting her own things down just in case.  If Jane was battening down the hatches it was usually a good idea to follow suit.  

Tony put his hands in his pockets and swung back around to look at Darcy.  “It _was_ pretty cool, though,” he nodded sagely in Foster’s defense. 

Jane popped her head back up again like a meerkat. “I know, right?”

Darcy huffed and rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t encourage her. Now, what do you want?”

“Teach me how to be Eyelingual.”

Darcy actually took a moment at that. “What?”

“You know, that thing you do with the spysassins!”

Knowing he wouldn’t go away, Darcy sighed. “ _Fine_. Here’s lesson one.”

Tony looked so giddy she half expected him to hop from one foot to another in unbridled childish glee. 

Darcy raised a brow at him.

Moments ticked by and Tony started to look confused. “ _Well_?”

“Well what?  That was it.”

“What! But you didn’t _do_ anything!”

Darcy responded with another twitch of her eyebrow.

“Oooooh, I get it- well played, Lewis. _Well played_.”

Darcy continued to just stare at him, now tilting her head to the side. 

“I’m going to get this- you’ll see. Thanks for the lesson, Lewis. I’ll be back for lesson two tomorrow.” Tony turned on his heel and left, whistling as he went.

Darcy watched him go before looking at Jane, who was watching her from her pile of science.  Jane raised a thin brow at Darcy. 

Darcy raised one back and shrugged.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what joke Clint told was but whatever it was, it was hilarious. I mean like seriously hilarious. Even I was laughing. 
> 
> If none of you know, Corey Hart sang that song, “Sunglasses at Night” which is why Darcy calls Tony that when she sees he’s still walking around inside with them. 
> 
> If you haven’t read my first fic in the series, ‘Always,’ then you don’t know it was inspired by another fic where Darcy’s Soulmate is Jarvis. Ihateallergies invited other users to add to and build upon their stories, so I did. In my head Jarvis tries to do things that he has watched other Soulmates do- such as finish the other’s sentences. But because it’s Darcy, and Darcy loves music, he finishes her sentences in humorous ways with lines from songs. The one he finished it with this time was from Meghan Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass.” The line he played off of from Darcy was ‘all about that science’ and the line in the song is ‘’bout that bass, no treble.’
> 
> Yes, Jane did open up a black hole in the lab once. That story will come.
> 
> If you’ve read ‘Always,’ then you’ll know that Tony had suspicions that Darcy spoke Eyebrow already. The first few months when Darcy is just watching Clint and Nat is when ‘Always’ takes place so by then she’s more or less got it down. Thus her conversations at the end of ‘Always.’


End file.
